'After a spectacular beginning, many Internet companies finally faltered. You know the story. Many independent web marketers lost, and suddenly everyone found that the brave new world of the information superhighway seemed no to be anymore. Why?'

It is part of our conventional wisdom: 95% of all people who want to start an online business or work independently using the web fail. We could say that given the fact that the Internet makes up-front investment costs so little would be the cause; in other words, this theory states that it is simply too easy to attempt a start and therefore, many individuals who 'shouldn't' be attempting to do money online are able to give it a try.

Could be, but what about the big guys who also went bankrupt? You can't say that someone who is able to get a couple of millions in venture capital is also totally unable to make some common-sense financial forecasts, or at least, hire someone who could.

They went down too, in many cases. So, this explanation does not seem to fit reality, or at least, explain all cases.

Yes, people make mistakes, but saying that all these troubles are a common origin based in widespread financial stupidity is an oversimplification.

When a community is facing a problem that affects many of its individuals, a logical way to solve it is to find the underlying causes, the common factors that affect everyone, and one of the common factors affecting all these bankrupted fellows is no more and no less than the Internet itself.